December 21, 2013

Texas Rangers Land Shin-Soo Choo: The Texas Rangers and outfielder Shin-Soo Choo have reportedly agreed to a seven-year, $130 million deal, according to the Dallas Morning News. The New York Yankees also wanted Choo and offered him $140 million for seven years, but that works out to less money than Texas factoring in state taxes. Choo, 31, will likely become the Rangers leadoff man and left fielder

Not being a baseball fan I may be misunderstanding this but $130M/7 years seems high for a player with a 4.2 average WAR over the last five years (since he became a full time starter as best I can tell), with the two best of those being the two at the beginning of the range. And 31 years old, well, @rcade's comment seems appropo.

$130M/7 years seems high for a player with a 4.2 average WAR over the last five years

It works out to $18.5 per year pro rated and FanGraphs' (very early) look at the price of a win this offseason suggests it's jumped from $5 million to $6.2. Even assuming those are winner's curse type buys and the market is still at $5 million, that works out to $22 million a year. That said, something about Choo's profile makes the length of the contract feel like a risk. He has a huge platoon split and while he can steal base or two, his defense stinks and it's getting worse (his baserunning grades out as neutral at best). Maybe the Rangers think they can hide that in Arlington or they're just used to watching the statue of Nelson Cruz they've had in right (they aren't going to play Choo in center are they?).